1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to recessed refrigerators installed in a wall-recessed manner and, more particularly, to a cabinet for recessed side-by-side refrigerators, which has an integrated single inner casing to define a freezer compartment and a refrigerator compartment therein, and other elements that are structured to be suitable to the integrated single inner casing.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is well known to those skilled in the art, recessed refrigerators are installed in a manner of being recessed in walls of buildings or houses, and typically have large capacities, in comparison with conventional home refrigerators. The recessed refrigerators typically have side-by-side structures, and such recessed refrigerators are called “recessed side-by-side refrigerators”. To install a recessed refrigerator in a building or a house, a recess must be positioned at a wall to receive the refrigerator therein. A conventional cabinet for recessed side-by-side refrigerators will be described herein below, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 3.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a recessed side-by-side refrigerator 100 with a conventional cabinet. As shown in the drawing, to recess the refrigerator 100 in a wall 10, the wall 10 is provided with a recess at a desired position. Two doors of the refrigerator 100, which are mounted to the cabinet to respectively open and close a freezer compartment 102a and a refrigerator compartment 103a, are not shown in FIG. 1 to expose the freezer compartment 102a and the refrigerator compartment 103a, for ease of description. The cabinet of the recessed side-by-side refrigerator 100 includes an outer casing 101, two inner casings 102 and 103, and a cabinet flange 104. The outer casing 101 defines an appearance of the cabinet, that is, the appearance of the recessed side-by-side refrigerator 100. The inner casings 102 and 103 include a first inner casing 102 defining the freezer compartment 102a therein, and a second inner casing 103 defining the refrigerator compartment 103a therein. The cabinet flange 104 covers a front of the cabinet, which is defined between a front edge of the outer casing 101 and front edges of the two inner casings 102 and 103, and between the front edges of the two inner casings 102 and 103, so that the cabinet flange 104 finishes the front of the cabinet.
FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the conventional cabinet of the recessed side-by-side refrigerator 100, taken along the line A-A of FIG. 1. The cabinet of the recessed side-by-side refrigerator 100 will be described in detail herein below, with reference to FIG. 2.
The outer casing 101 of the cabinet is a box-shaped body open at the front thereof. The first inner casing 102, which is a box-shaped body open at the front thereof, is placed at one side of the interior of the outer casing 101, with predetermined spaces defined between the outer casing 101 and the first inner casing 102, so that the first inner casing 102 defines the freezer compartment 102a therein. In the same manner as that described for the first inner casing 102, the second inner casing 103 is a box-shaped body open at the front thereof, which is placed at an other side of the interior of the outer casing 101, with predetermined spaces defined between the first and second inner casings 102 and 103, and between the outer casing 101 and the second inner casing 103, so that the second inner casing 103 defines the refrigerator compartment 103a therein. In the above-mentioned cabinet, a partition wall “A” is positioned between the first and second inner casings 102 and 103 to provide a thermal insulation between the freezer and refrigerator compartments 102a and 103a. 
In the above-mentioned cabinet, the cabinet flange 104 covers the front of the cabinet, which is defined between the front edge of the outer casing 101 and the front edges of the two inner casings 102 and 103. The cabinet flange 104 also covers the front of the partition wall “A”. The structure of the conventional cabinet flange 104 is shown in FIG. 3.
Each of the first and second inner casings 102 and 103 is fabricated with three walls, that is, two sidewalls and one rear wall. In each of the first and second inner casings 102 and 103, the three walls are assembled together along junction edges thereof into a single box-shaped body through a caulking process, as shown at the portion “I” of FIG. 2. A sealing member 105 is provided along each of the caulked junctions of the walls of the first and second casings 102 and 103, to prevent a leakage of urethane foam through the caulked junctions. The urethane foam fills the predetermined spaces between the outer casing 101 and the first and second inner casings 102 and 103, and fills a space inside the partition wall “A” positioned between the first and second inner casings 102 and 103. The urethane foam fills the spaces between the inner and outer casings and the space of the partition wall after the inner and outer casings are fabricated into a single body.
A hot pipe 106 and a magnet 107 are provided at the front of the cabinet fabricated with the outer and inner casings 101, 102, and 103, such that the hot cover 106 and the magnet 107 are covered with the cabinet flange 104. The hot pipe 106 is arranged along the front edge of the cabinet to prevent a formation of condensation at the front of the cabinet. The hot pipe 106 is attached to the cabinet flange 104 by use of both a clip pipe 106a and a double-faced adhesive tape. The magnet 107 is arranged at the front of the cabinet to allow the two doors (not shown) having magnets to be magnetically attracted to the front of the cabinet, so that the two doors are magnetically closed to the front of the cabinet. The magnet 107 is attached to the cabinet flange 104 by use of a double-faced adhesive tape.
But the conventional cabinet for the recessed side-by-side refrigerators is problematic as follows.
First, a longitudinal step and a longitudinal gap are undesirably positioned along each junction line between the cabinet flange 104 and the first and second inner casings 102 and 103, as shown at the portion “II” of FIG. 2. Due to the step and the gap, the conventional cabinet for the recessed side-by-side refrigerators has an inferior front appearance, reducing the quality of the refrigerators.
Second, in each of the first and second inner casings 102 and 103, the three walls are assembled together along the junction edges thereof into a single box-shaped body through the caulking process, as described above with reference to the portion “I” of FIG. 2. The caulking process of assembling the three walls of each of the first and second inner casings 102 and 103 into a single body complicates a process of assembling the cabinet, thus reducing work efficiency, and increasing the cost of materials, thereby increasing a production cost of the cabinets.
Third, the sealing member 105, which is provided along each of the caulked junctions of the walls of the first and second casings 102 and 103, degrades the appearance of the cabinet.